AI platform may help prevent spread of infectious diseases
A University of Southern California team has created an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm adept at slowing the spread of infectious diseases, while simultaneously considering resources and population dynamics.
The algorithm is designed to aid public health officials identify and treat patients with undiagnosed infectious diseases by reducing how quickly disease spreads, Clinical Innovation+Technology reports. The study was published in the AAAI Conference of Artificial Intelligence.
"While there are many methods to identify patient populations for health outreach campaigns, not many consider the interaction between changing population patterns and disease dynamics over time," said Sze-chuan Suen, an assistant professor in industrial and systems engineering at USC, in the study. "Fewer still consider how to use an algorithmic approach to optimize these policies given the uncertainty of our estimates of these disease dynamics. We take both of these effects into account in our approach."
The AI platform was tested using tuberculosis in India and gonorrhea in the U.S. Researchers found the AI platform was more proficient in reducing disease than current health outreach policies.
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Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.